News from the MU Department of Ancient Mediterranean Studies

September 2019

AMS students visited the Parthenon during a study abroad trip this summer.

Dear SDB,

Fall 2019 will be here velocius quam asparagi coquantur (“quicker than asparagus is cooked”), as Caesar Augustus apparently used to say.

Last year was a busy one for all of us in AMS, and we’re looking forward to a full roster of events about the literature and material culture of ancient Greece and Rome.

We hope you’ll stop by to see us in Swallow Hall, our beautiful home next to Jesse Hall on the Francis Quadrangle.

With all best wishes,

Annie Mori

Chair, Department of Ancient Mediterranean Studies

1. Ferd and Ann LaBrunerie Library

We are very grateful to Ferd and Ann LaBrunerie for their generous support of classics at MU.

Joe Marshall , his wife Julie Marshall , and Robin LaBrunerie as well as students, faculty, and alumni stopped by for the library’s grand opening in September 2018.

Read more about our new library

2. Heartland

Kristine Mallinson and Megan Matheny orgainized the sixth Heartland Graduate Workshop in Ancient Studies : “Experiencing Place and Space in the Ancient Mediterranean” in October 2018.

Faculty and graduate students at MU founded the series in 2011 to strengthen interdisciplinary ties between graduate programs in ancient studies throughout the central U.S.

3. 25 ^th Annual Homerathon

The third floor of Swallow Hall was once again packed with fans of Homer last May.

We read Iliad Book 3 in ancient Greek, English, and Neo-Latin (a.k.a. Italian) and David Schenker , director of undergraduate studies, presented awards to our many outstanding AMS students.

Read this interview about the event from KBIA's "Off the Clock"

4. Emily Wilson on “Translating the Classics”

We are excited to welcome Emily Wilson to the MU campus on September 20 as the keynote speaker for the Fall 2019 Gender and Translation Series.

As the Guardian reviewer observes: “The first version of Homer’s groundbreaking work by a woman will change our understanding of it forever.”

In addition to giving a lecture on modern interpretations of the classics, she will also appear at the Skylark Bookshop in downtown Columbia.